The number of students confirmed dead after the collapse of an Islamic school building in Indonesia's East Java province has risen to nine as the search for survivors continues.

The Al Khoziny school in the town of Sidoarjo collapsed on Monday, cratering upon hundreds of teenage students during afternoon prayer, its foundations unable to support ongoing construction work on its upper floors.

Thirty ambulances had been prepared as rescuers continued looking for more than 50 students - mostly teenage boys from the ages of 13 to 19 - still trapped under the rubble, the disaster mitigation agency said on Friday.

The death toll rose from five a day earlier, the agency said, adding rescuers had received the parents' permission to make use of heavy equipment after failing to find signs of life

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